EPA grants town of Exeter an extension

More time needed to draft a plan to stop wastewater from entering Squamscott

EXETER — The town has been granted an additional 60 days by the Environmental Protection Agency to submit its long-term plan for stopping combined sewer overflows into the Squamscott River.

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By Aaron Sanborn

seacoastonline.com

By Aaron Sanborn

Posted Jan. 22, 2013 at 2:00 AM

By Aaron Sanborn
Posted Jan. 22, 2013 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

EXETER — The town has been granted an additional 60 days by the Environmental Protection Agency to submit its long-term plan for stopping combined sewer overflows into the Squamscott River.

The delay is a welcome development for town officials who were not ready to make a $30 million commitment to the cause.

A special work session of the town's Water and Sewer Advisory Committee is now scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 13.

"We have to come up with a better solution than the one available," said Water and Sewer Advisory Committee member Gene Lambert.

In September 2010, the EPA issued an administrative order to the town requesting that it address untreated wastewater and storm water being discharged into Clemson Pond, which eventually flows into the Squamscott River.

Underwood Engineers recently recommended that the town invest $650,000 to $900,000 a year over a period of 20 to 40 years to upgrade its sewer infrastructure in the areas of town where inflow and infiltration has been identified as a major issue.

Inflow and infiltration is when storm water enters the sewage system, where it must undergo the same treatment as wastewater. Inflow and infiltration issues often lead to combined sewer overflows.

The recommendation to invest even more money into the town's sewer infrastructure comes on the heels of the town accepting the EPA's nitrogen permit, which calls for $36 million to $45 million in the form of a new wastewater treatment plant in an effort to reduce nitrogen the town's current plant releases into the Great Bay estuary.

Lambert said there's a concern that the additional financial commitment to upgrade the infrastructure is too much to ask.

"There's only 3,400 ratepayers that are going to be paying for this," he said. "It's a big chunk that only a small group of people are paying to solve that problem."

Lambert said the Water and Sewer Advisory Committee will use its work session next month to discuss other possible options in hopes of making a recommendation to the Board of Selectmen.

Underwood Engineers made the recommendation to invest in the sewer projects over the long term would allow time for assessment and evaluation of how the improvements are improving or not improving the inflow and infiltration problem, while other solutions such as building a pumping station or a separate treatment facility at Clemson Pond would require a large capital investment up front.

However, the issue some have with the proposal is no one actually knows how much the infrastructure improvements will reduce the inflow and infiltration.

The town in currently working on its first pilot project in the Jady Hill neighborhood.

That $2.9 million project includes private lateral work on residential sewer lines, substantial rehabilitation and replacement of sewer lines, and improved drainage infrastructure, including storm drains for residents to empty their sump pumps.

Officials have projected that the infrastructure improvements could get rid of up to 75 percent of the inflow and infiltration problem in the area but those measurements won't be known until the project is complete and there's time to assess the data.

"We don't know if it will work," Lambert said. "I think making a commitment right now is premature and I think that's the major consensus among committee members at this point."

A majority of homeowners in the Jady Hill are kicking in for the replacements of their residential lines. Under an arrangement put together by the town the homeowners are paying for work from the property line to up to five feet from the home's foundation with a $1,000 cap and the town is paying for any repairs over $1,000.

Following Jady Hill, there are two other neighborhoods that have been identified as pilot projects for inflow and infiltration improvement; the West Side Drive area and the Downing Court area.

Those areas include 99 and 76 homes, respectively, that would need sewer line replacements, according to a report from Underwood Engineers.

Lambert said another concern the committee has is the fact that the EPA permit only goes for 15 years and the town is being asked to commit to a 40-year program that would include an additional 19 projects outside of the three pilot projects.

Under the Underwood proposal the commitments to the inflow and infiltration control plan in the sewer capital improvement plan would be $879,000 in 2014, $697,500 in 2015, $918,500 in 2016, $648,500 in 2017, $898,500 in 2018, $648,500 in 2019, $898,500 in 2020, and $648,500 in 2021.

In addition to the capital projects, those costs include ongoing flow monitoring and measurements and additional investigation, according to the Underwood Report.